The Most Popular Girls in School
The Most Popular Girls in School (sometimes abbreviated as TMPGIS or MPGIS) is a stop motion comedy web series created by YouTubers Carlo Moss and Mark Cope. The series centers around some of the popular students of Overland Park High School, and the main storyline involves a feud between the Van Buren sisters and the school's cheer squad. The first episode was originally uploaded on Carlo Moss's YouTube channel "associatesofawesome" in October of 2011, when the comedy team wanted to dabble in animation, and two more episodes were added after. After the show reached enough popularity a channel was created just for series, and is under the name "TheMostPopularGirls". It has been featured on Buzzfeed as well as on Reddit, Queerty, and others. Just recently on Tumblr in January of 2013 posts from the series have gained high numbers, and the show has developed a cult following. Season two premiered on March 5, 2013, and since a new episode is uploaded weekly on Tuesdays. Currently there are 26 episodes. Synopsis Season one The Most Popular Girls in School is about new girl Deandra, who has just recently started going to Overland Park High, and her involvement in an ongoing feud between two groups of girls, one being the Van Burens, who are the most popular girls in the whole area, and the cheerleaders, or "cheer squad" as they're called in the series. It starts with Deandra unknowingly walking into the bathroom the cheerleaders "own". Her and Mackenzie get into a verbal altercation, and as Mackenzie tells Deandra she needs to know her place, Deandra says she already knows because Mackenzie's boyfriend told her, saying Shay Van Buren told her he didn't have a girlfriend, and Mackenzie calls Shay a liar. Deandra is allowed to use the bathroom. Afterwards, Shay and her two sisters, Cameron and Mikayla, confront her about being called a liar and want an apology. She agrees to after they threaten to make her little sister's life a misery at the elementary school, and the Van Burens take control of the bathroom. With the two groups at war, they need allies. First the Van Burens meet Deandra at lunch and offer to pay for it if she sides with them, and accepts. Shortly after, the cheer squad find her and ask for her to be on their side, but even though she sided with the Van Burens she agrees. At the same time, it's shown that Rachel Tice and Judith are planning something directed at all of Rachel's former friends. Both teams try to strategies and bring the other humiliation. First, the Van Burens poison the cheer squad's pep rally energy drinks with laxatives, causing Mackenzie to miss out on the biggest pep rally of the year where she would announce her run for prom queen. Then, when the nominees for prom queen come out, the cheer squad got Shay's name changed to "Gay", so in life when people remember who she is they'll go, "Hey, aren't you Gay Van Buren?" Her, Mackenzie, Brittnay, Deandra, and another student named Amberlynn are nominated. The feud escalates and Deandra is caught being on both sides, and in a tug-of-war Deandra gets her arms ripped off by accident. This makes her think she'll win prom queen in a pity vote. Finally at prom, after several arguments and bickering, it is revealed that Rachel Tice won in a write-in, sending everyone in shock. Her plan worked by winning prom queen and ruining their lives. Shay and Mackenzie decide to dedicate their entire lives in getting revenge on her, but still hate each other. Season two The season opens up with the school janitor Desmond finding a positive pregnancy test in the girls bathroom. When Trisha get's a hold of it, she goes and confronts Brittnay, thinking it's hers, but Brittnay denies it, claiming she's saving her "vaginity" for someone special; then they find Mackenzie to see if it's hers, finding out it isn't, and it's not Trisha because her boyfriend was born without genitals. Quickly they realize it could be Shay's test, and they go find her to gloat about the fact she'll get fat, but Shay denies it's hers also. The test actually belongs to Saison Margeurite and Blaine, causing Brittnay to go into hysterics and even thanks God for the news. Meanwhile, Rachel Tice and Judith go to school after winning prom, believing now they'll be apart of the popular girls; they go up to the cheer squad in hopes to hang out and do "popular girl stuff" but the squad shuns them, and verbally insults them. As they walk away, Ashley Katchadourian appears mysteriously and asks if they want revenge on the cheer squad, but they turn it down. In the next episode, the football team tries to coach Blaine on being a father, trying to give him a football to nurture as his child, but keeps throwing it. Than appears and makes his usual homosexual insults at the team (while sounding like he'd like to act on the insults as well), but he states that he's straight and has sex with a lot of girls, "like 12 or 2". He bets them he could go have sex with any girl he wants, so he goes and talks to Brittnay, instigating that they should. At first she's repulsed by him, but later turns out to be attracted to his "mixed messages" and she allows him to have sex with her, but to her it's so she can get back at Blaine (they dated briefly in the second episode of the first season, but broke up when Brittnay found out he liked Gossip Girl more than Glee). Then, after a visit to the doctor, Mackenzie finds out she has FPD (Female Pattern Baldness), and planned to tell Trisha and Brittnay, but suddenly they're confronted by the Atchison cheer squad, Berkowitz, McDevitt, and 2, who aren't allowed at the Overland Park mall due to chear squad law. They come to their mall because their mall burned down. A feud is quickly escalated (even though both Trisha's become friendly with each other), and they decide to settle their dispute at cheer nationals to see who can actually "own" the mall. Meanwhile, back at school, Saison is the subject of a reality show, "Babes Having Babies", which the filmmakers refer to it as "kind of like 16 and Pregnant, but we film them for the first two months of the pregnancy, you know, before they get all fat and shit". Saison says Brittnay is her best friend, and Brittnay plays along soley to get an opportunity to be on TV. For nationals, the cheer squad tries practicing, but the team faces problems: they only have five members seeing as how Jenna Derabon has been missing for some time, and, unknown to the rest of the squad, Ashley Katchadorian is siding with the Atchison squad in an act of revenge for what Trisha did to her. They hold tryouts, and the only person qualified is Saison, whom one of the producers of Babes Having Babies forces into the squad after giving Brittnay her own show after a clip of her swearing and ranting about Saison becomes viral on YouTube. Behind the scenes Mark Cope wanted to start getting into stop animation, but didn't have any idea of what to do. He saw Carlo Moss performing in drag at a comedy club a skit that would later become the first episode of the series. When writing the original script, Carlo chose the location of Overland Park, Kansas by randomly point on a map to a place in the middle of America. The original dolls were bought from a dollar store after they realized how expensive it would be to buy actual Barbie dolls for the roles. Carlo asked his friend Lily Vonnegut, who voices Brittnay, Judith, and Mikayla, to be apart of the voice cast and accepted; she thought she could be more than just a voice on the show, and thought it could use better sets, more characters, and decided to help out as the show's producer. A script is written for each episode, and the full cast records together. Mark states in a behind the scenes video uploaded on the show's channel that about 2000 pictures are taken per episode. Even though there's a script, some of the dialog, including some of the show's most memorable lines are actually improvised by the actors. The show's humor is mainly chalked up to its profanity laced dialog, and various scenes involving toilet humor. On February 7, 2013 the creators released a video announcing that they would like fans to donate funds to the show in hopes that they could use the donations to make better sets, buy more dolls for characters and clothing by using Kickstarter, asking to reach a goal of $5000 before March 4. They met their goal days after, and have even doubled the amount. Characters *'Deandra "The New Girl"' (voiced by Carlo Moss) is the new girl, who transferred from Atchison, "north of Topeka, west of the 71". She mistakenly uses the bathroom that is 'owned' by Mackenzie Zales, but after an exchange of words is allowed to use the bathroom freely. She later joins the cheer squad, although she never wears the uniform or attends practice, and at the same time also sides with the rival Van Burens, even being sworn in as an honorary Van Buren cousin. She eventually gets her arms ripped off in episode eleven, and stays arm-less until she gets prosthetic arms (one human and one robot). *'Mackenzie Zales' (voiced by Kate Frisbee) is the school's head cheerleader, homecoming queen, and a part-time model. She, along with the other cheerleaders, owned the school bathroom until popular girl Shay Van Buren discovers she was calling her a liar, and uses blackmail to weasel her from her position, thus beginning their feud. *'Trisha Cappelletti' (voiced by Garrett Mendez) is another cheerleader. Out of the three main cheerleaders she isn't the smartest, although in some instances does show some intelligence. *'Brittnay Matthews' (voiced by Lily Vonnegut) is the second-head cheerleader. Out of all the characters, her personality is the worst, as she verbally abuses almost everybody. She also shares hatred for the Van Buren sisters. *'Shay Van Buren' (voiced by Andrew Delman) is one of the school's most popular girls. Her intense hatred for Mackenzie Zales stems from an incident in the 3rd grade, when she lost out on being head cheerleader after an injury caused by Matthew Derringer hitting her in the head with a hacky sack, thus causing her to be the first female in her family not to hold that title. She is also deaf in one ear due to this injury. *'Cameron Van Buren' (voiced by Aaron Krebs) is Shay's older sister. She was the prom queen of 2011, and goes to Wichita State University, where she's in "a ton of sororities, and has a 29 year old boyfriend". Trisha mentions that she's the most popular girl in the history of the Blue Valley School District. *'Mikayla Van Buren' (voiced by Lily Vonnegut) is the younger sister of the Van Burens, and the "most popular girl of Meadow Lane Elementary School". She helps her older sisters gain control of the bathrooms by using Mackenzie Zales' little sister as bait, threatening to spread rumors about her, and even tripping her down a flight of stairs. *'Ashley Katchadorian' (voiced by Kate Frisbee) is another cheerleader, but is rarely seen. She spends a large amount of the first season on vacation in Pearl Harbor, and is caught up in the bathroom drama after Trisha blames her for not watching the door. *'Rachel Tice' (voiced by Carlo Moss) is a student, and former friend of the popular girls. She lost their respect when Brittnay saw her eat a roly-poly in the 3rd grade. The only person seen to be her friend is Judith' '(voiced by Lily Vonnegut). Rachel is obsessed with Gossip Girl, to the point where she doesn't even know it has been off the air for some time. She has a pessimistic older sister named Bridget Tice (voiced by Christine Tarbet). *'Saison Marguerite' (voiced by Andrew Delman) is a foreign student from Montreal (but pretends she is from France). Brittnay is always annoyed by her, and constantly accuses her of not being from France, questioning whenever Saison says "how d'you say..." before words she knows how to say, including French words. In the beginning of season two, it's announced that she's pregnant with Blaine's baby. *'Amberlynn Weggers' (voiced by Dave Hill) is a female student. She's only seen twice throughout the first 13 episodes, once when she's nominated for prom queen, and then again at the prom. Brittnay considers her to be wise. *'Jenna Deponenien' (voiced by Jessie Schneiderman) is one of the Overland Park Cheer Squad cheerleaders. She has been absent for most of the series, but is introduced in episode 21. She's been out of the loop for so long she has no idea what's going on with the other cheer squad members, and when she tries asking about it her questions get ignored. *'Matthew Derringer' (voiced by Dave Hill) is on the school's football team. He's known for his charming and smooth personality. He later develops a relationship with Trisha, and takes her to the prom. It's revealed that he was born without any genitalia. *'Jonathan Getslinhaumer' (voiced by Mark Cope) is a student, and tries to go by the name "Than". He is the target of ridicule from the football team, and is constantly teased as being gay due to the questionable things he says to other male students. He takes Shay Van Buren to the prom. *'Tanner Christensen' (voiced by Pete Capella) is on the school's football team, and is openly gay. He is in a monogamous relationship with Tristan McKie, (voiced by Ray Hebel). *'Blaine' (voiced by Carlo Moss) is also on the football team. He was Brittnay's boyfriend until she broke up with him, after finding out he liked Gossip Girl more than Glee. He shortly starts dating Saison Margarite afterwards, and takes her to the prom. *'Connor Devarden' (voiced by Carlo Moss) is a male student. He is known for spreading a rumor around the school that Brittnay doesn't give the best handjobs. He agrees to take her to the prom, but ends up ditching her beforehand. *'Mrs. Van Buren' (voiced by David Razowsky) is the mother of the Van Buren sisters. She's been seen in one episode, where she helps the girls spike the cheer squad's energy drinks with laxatives. A recurring joke is that she likes to drink while pregnant, such as when she says she needs a nap, Shay asks, "By nap do you mean an Ambien and a box of wine?". In the scene she is visibly pregnant, but in a later episode it's discovered her stomach is full of fat from her alcohol abuse, and it's so severe her doctor recommends she puts herself on a list for a liver transfer. *'Lunch Lady Belinda' (voiced by Bill Sindelar) is the school's cafeteria lunch server. It has been hinted that she has a strange fixation with Cameron Van Buren. She is one of the few school staff workers shown throughout the series. *'Coach Spitz' (voiced by Dave Hill), is the school's sports coach. The only times he's ever been seen are in the boys' locker room, standing behind a wall and staring at the guys, and in the girls' bathroom, standing behind a bathroom stall and watching the girls. It's implied that he is doing something questionable, and the only words he's uttered so far are "carry on", though only when someone spots him. *'Principal Nubbins' (voiced by Aaron Krebs) is the school principal. So far he has never been seen, only heard through the school's intercom system. It is implied that he is the butt of many pranks from the student body. *'Desmond' (voiced by Aaron Krebs) is the school janitor. He has a Jamaican accent; he was first mentioned in episode three, after Trisha throws up in one of the stalls and says she'd text him to clean it up, but he's first introduced in episode one of season two. Atchison High Cheer Squad: The Atchison High Cheer Squad made their first appearance in season two, episode 18. They're made up of Taylor McDevitt, Tanya Berkowitz, and Trisha 2. *'Taylor McDevitt' (voiced by Carla Henderson) was originally on the Overland Park Cheer Squad, but was kicked off and subsequently banned from the Overland Park Mall after an incident involving her and Brittnay Matthews' then-boyfriend, and transferred to Atchison. *'Tanya Berkowitz' (voiced by Lee Newton) is the squad's cheer-captain. She, and the rest of the squad, holds herself to a higher standard unlike her counterpart cheerleaders, refraining from swearing or anything else crude that the Overland cheer squad partakes in. *'Trisha 2' (voiced by Haley Mancini) is one of the squad's co-captains. She's very much like Trisha Cappelletti, somewhat dim and easily loses focus during conversation. Reactions The show picked up serious popularity after Tumblr user "gloomyteens" posted the first episode on their blog on January 10, 2013, which quickly grew attention from other users. Users began uploading their own material from the show, such as screencaps, and even made GIF's of some scenes, a lot of which also grew high numbers in posts. Catchphrases spoken from the characters are often quoted, like for example a quote from the 3rd episode when character Rachel Tice runs crying into the bathroom, the other characters all scream "Fucking Rachel Tice!", is often quoted among fans. Another quote comes from a line Deandra speaks in the 6th episode is often used, "I want...to poop here.". Also on Tumblr users have gone as far as to create blogs dedicated to some of the show's characters, spawning role playing, "ask blogs", and more. A review about the show written on the website Thought Catalog says, "This show is so strange and great. My favorite part about it is how specific everything is: the way they use people’s first and last names, the character’s voices, the spot-on pop culture references, the shape of the world and how insane it is. The show is also f-cking funny as hell." Another review written by THEFW states, "Although the very funny, often crude, and completely not safe for work YouTube series ‘The Most Popular Girls in School’ first hit the internet in 2011, thanks to Tumblr it’s now seeing a new degree of popularity. This web series shows the bizarre side of high school that many of us don’t like to remember. (Think ‘Mean Girls’ meets ‘Daria’ and you’ll get the vibe.) Just remember–don’t you dare watch it at work because if there was any Web series that’s totally NSFW, it’s this one." Chloe Alexander, from Odyssey Online News Magazine wrote of the show, "In short, TMPGIS is what everyone wishes teen movie characters would say. It is the combination of Mean Girls and South Park – so insanely quotable and distinctly inappropriate." - "The dialogue in the entire series is priceless and makes one wonder, ‘How do these people not have a show on Comedy Central?'" then goes on to say about the voice acting, "However, it is not merely the lines themselves that make the dialogue so incredibly hilarious. Many of the female characters are so obviously voiced by males that the combination of cracking, uncharacteristically low voices and vulgar one-liners coming from the mouths of the pretty and polished Barbie Dolls reaches a level of comedy that could really only be found on the internet." Days before the premier of season two, the site NewNowNext (which hosts the NewNowNext Awards) posted two questions and answers interview with two of the show's characters Deandra and Rachel Tice, and when the new season premiered they said about the show to the creators, "We salute your brilliance Carlo Moss and Mark Cope, for creating the most amazing group of high school bitches, and gingered loud mouths, since Mean Girls." Problems The series has had problems with airing episodes. Episode 17 was delayed for days due to an issue with YouTube (see Episode 17 upload problem) and episode 21 was due to air April 30th, but because of problems with advertising, the show was once again delayed. Category:Characters